


End of the line

by ghostie360



Category: Call of Duty, Prototype (Video Games)
Genre: Atlas - Freeform, Blood and Injury, Confusion, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Sex, F/M, Friendship, Hate, Isolation, Love, Mangos, Pain, Slow Burn, Virus, a lot of mentioned characters, blacklight - Freeform, irons is a dick, kinda feels, prototype - Freeform, this is gonna be a long one
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-05-25 04:29:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 13,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6180211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostie360/pseuds/ghostie360
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Isolated in the only world she knows. Blacklight is the creature ATLAS created, she can no longer remember who she was. Maybe someone named Mitchell can help with that...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> Please read 'I'm glad you were the new guy' and especially 'internal conflict' first. As this is a follow on and won't make as much sense by itself.  
> This is a cod prototype crossover, please read a summery of prototype 1 as it might help you understand this thing :)  
> I hope you guys enjoy and I love hearing feedback from you guys :D

“Why does she never wear an Exosuit?” Mitchell asked Gideon after leaving the SIM.

“Because Blacklight doesn’t need one” He replied, looking at her across the road. She was glaring at Irons who was talking to some other soldiers at the entrance to a different building.

“I thought that we were required to wear one?” In the couple of months he’d been at ATLAS Mitchell had never met her; she kept away from everyone, isolating herself.

Whenever he did see her walking around the base he’d think to himself, _she is pretty… her hair looks good tied up, with her fringe and some of the shorter bits around her face; I wonder if she dyes it white then? She’s much taller up close, even taller than Gideon is by the looks of it, maybe around the same height as Will.._. _Why doesn’t she want to be around any of us? Why is she never happy here?_ _I think it’s great_ …

Blacklight looked up, hearing her name she materialised next to them, making Gideon and Mitchell jump. “What is it now?” She sighed.

“He just wondered why you don’t have an Exosuit” Gideon said calmly “and I’m never going to get used to you doing that” he told her with a small smile.

She looked to him and spoke sharply “It would be a waste of money to give me an Exo; they are unnecessary commodities for weaklings like you”. She then turned to Gideon and teased “Just because you can’t do it”.

Mitchell just stared at her, _why isn’t she wearing shoes?_

“What’s with the watching?” She snapped her fingers in front of his eyes, whilst frowning.

“Blacklight, this is Jack Mitchell. He’s new, so don’t scare him too much” He thought Gideon was joking, though his eyes were serious.

“He doesn’t look like I had expected… I take it he doesn’t know what I am?” Her eyes flickered with interest though she stayed frowning at him.

“No, I’ll tell him later…” Gideon mumbled.

“You’re just like everyone else, aren’t you?” Mitchell said quietly, _what she is? I don’t get it...._

Blacklight continued looking at him for a little longer, before shaking her head and walked to a different building.

“What did I say?” he looked at Gideon who in turn looked a little worried.

“She isn’t like us mate, they don’t even class her as a person here” Gideon pulled him in the opposite direction.

“Why not?” _What the fuck is going on here?_


	2. Is she dangerous?

They sat down in one of the other buildings “She came here in 2016, no one knows what had happened to her, Irons said that they found her on the street, they took her in and ran some tests. He said that she’s a virus which took over her human body.” Gideon paused.

“2016? That’s a fair time ago… but she only looks like she’s in her twenties?” he muttered.

“It stopped her aging; she’s looked like that for as long as I’ve known her.” Gideon thought to when he first met her, how she shouted at him for stepping out of line.

“Oh, do you have any idea how old she really is?” Mitchell wondered.

“No idea mate. She’s virtually indestructible though; she can’t die, I’ve seen her get shot and heal. She can move from one place to another fast, that’s why she doesn’t need an Exo; you’ll have to get her to explain how she does it, I’ve got no idea. It’s the same with manipulating her body in to weapons, only a few here have seen her do it” Gideon explained.

“That’s unbelievable. Is she dangerous to us then?” he was stunned, _I didn’t know thing like that were even possible._

“Not really, try and stay on her good side though… she had a fight with someone last month and he’s still in a coma.” Gideon spoke warily, knowing that she had a fierce temper when pushed.

“What did he do?”

“He told her that she was a freak, and didn’t deserve to live. He’d just come off a mission, and wasn’t thinking too straight” Gideon told him. “She smashed his face against the wall in the gym. Irons was furious”.

“Has she ever killed anyone here?” Mitchell asked, but he'd already guessed the answer.

Gideon gave him a small nod to confirm “It was when she first came here, I don’t think she meant to do it.”

“What happened?”

“As far as I know this was when they were still doing tests on her, someone just triggered something in her and she stabbed him with these claws, before opening them and sending scientist parts all over the lab. They didn’t test on her anymore after that.”

“I think I’ll just try and keep my distance then” Mitchell muttered.

"She isn't a bad person, or virus, she's just misunderstood" Gideon saw the fear creeping across his face.

Mitchell just looked at him, unconvinced.


	3. 40 years

For the next couple of months he avoided her, only meeting her in the corridor to his room a few times. She didn’t speak, only giving him a small glance when he stepped out of her way. But no matter how much he tried to avoid her, he couldn’t help _wanting_ to run in to her, wanting to talk to her, wanting just to be near her.

It was late and raining when he started heading to the shooting range, _I hope it’s quiet; I need to get back on my game…_ he thought as he ran in to the building, trying to stay as dry as he could.

Only two others were there, he said hi to them before taking up a HBRA3 and started to practice. A few minutes later someone else walked in, and Mitchell turned to see Blacklight stalking to her section.

Mitchell glanced over; she was soaked and looked upset. He quickly turned his attention back to shooting. She was met with a few stares and whispers from the other guys in there as she picked up her BAL-27. “What the fuck are you looking at?!” She shouted at them.

“Nothing Blacklight…” One of them stuttered nearly dropping his gun, the guy next to him started smirking.

She glared at him and appeared next to him; tendrils crept out of her back and over her shoulders, so they loomed over him as she looked down “Something funny?” she snarled.

He looked up at her and shook his head.

“Damned fucking right. I’ve dealt with pricks like you for nearly 40 years, most don’t survive...”

“We’re sorry… uhhh… we’ll get out of your way” The others quickly left, leaving her to shoot with him. She watched them leave a look of disgust and arrogance across her face, like she enjoyed scaring them.

 _Wow, she’s been here for 40 years? Should I talk to her? Na she’s already pissed off, a couple more shots and I’d better get going too._ Mitchell managed to get a few glances at her as she was concentrating on her shooting.

Half an hour later Mitchell decided to leave, looking over at Blacklight he saw that she was still soaked from the rain. He pulled off his jacket and walked over to her, but she spoke before he could.

“Put your jacket back on, you need it more than I do” She didn’t look at him, but her tone was different, quieter and gentler.

“But I want you to have it, it’s not exactly warm out” He managed to say without stuttering.

She sighed and set her BAL down in front of her “What you want isn’t what you need. Now just, leave.” She dismissed him.

Mitchell turned and walked away, but put his jacket on top of the other BAL’s, hoping she’d pick it up. He went back to his room and went to sleep.

Blacklight went to put her rifle away shortly after Mitchell had left. As she walked over she saw his jacket next to the empty slot. She frowned but picked it up anyway and walked back to her room, knowing Mitchells was just across the corridor. She hung it on the door handle. After that she went back out in to the rain.


	4. Keep up

A few days passed since he was on the range with Blacklight. It was early morning when Mitchell woke up. _5:19am I may as well go for a run now I’m up._ Dragging himself out of bed to get changed; it was earlier than usual, but he knew that he wouldn’t get back to sleep. Heading down to the track he saw the floodlit field fairly soon, _hmm maybe Ilona or Gideon got up early too; I didn’t think that they ran at this time though, actually I don’t know anyone who wakes up at this time_ …

Walking on to the field Mitchell saw someone kneeling in the middle. They were wearing a black hoodie and combats, no shoes, but he couldn’t quite recognise them from the back.

“I thought I was the only one who came here at this time!” he called over, but was met with silence. _Must be wearing headphones_ he thought setting down his stuff and putting on his own headphones, before starting to run.

Looking up she saw Mitchell running. _He’s out early, usually its 6…_ removing her headphones and pulling the hood down, Blacklight started walking over to the beginning of the track; he stopped as he passed her, she instantly saw the look of nervousness on his face.

“No need to worry Mitchell, it’s my duty to protect you lot, not to hurt you”

“Sorry… and I’m sorry for what I said when we first met… I didn’t know…” He stuttered this time.

“I think you may have gotten a bad impression of me” she sat down on the grass and motioned for him to sit too.

“Gideon said that you don’t like talking about it” he couldn’t think of much else to say as he sat next to her.

“Gideon says a lot of things…” pausing she got lost in thought.

Mitchell coughed and Blacklight cleared her head. “Did I scare you? When we first met… I don’t really do emotions”.

“Yeah… sorry. I think I was a bit more worried when Gideon told me you put someone in a coma… and tore someone apart” he said quietly.

“Everyone here knows not to annoy me, and that was… that was different”.

Mitchell looked confused.

_I guess he doesn’t know anything, does he? Just like the others, hear the rumour and believe it,_ she thought seeing his expression.

“I am a virus, which means the person you are looking at is actually dead, I find it difficult to understand the human emotions this body is clinging on to”.

Mitchell frowned, but nodded.

“When he told me I was a freak I got really pissed off, and I found it very difficult to control the virus, and he got hurt…” quietly trailing off she looked to the floor. “What did they tell you about his death?”

“Well Gideon said…”

“Gideon?!” Blacklight interrupted looking furious, small spikes started emerging through her clothes.

“He said it was an accident”.

“Good, I thought that you were going to say he believed that rumour.”

“Na he said that it was when you had first come here” Mitchell said trying to prompt her.

She nodded “Yeah, they kept trying to figure out how I was alive. I just couldn’t take it anymore, and I lost my temper. I didn’t know what I was doing; I didn’t know I could even change my body like that.”

There was still something Mitchell couldn’t quite put his finger on “how didn’t you know you could do that? Gideon said Irons found you and brought you here”.

“What? I woke up in their labs, I knew nothing. I can’t remember anything about how I got here, or who this body belonged to”. She looked up to see Mitchell watching her, again. “Didn’t you get enough looks at me on the range”?

He looked a little flustered and a little pink edged his cheeks. “I wasn’t, I…”

“Don’t try and make some shitty excuse, I can tell”.

“Ok, I was… sorry. But you’re a really good shot you know” He was blushing a lot now.

“Thanks; I don’t really use rifles anymore, don’t go on missions now either” Blacklight thought back to when she used to go on missions with Ilona and Gideon.

“You should come with me, Joker, and Gideon in a few weeks; it’ll be my second mission at ATLAS” He said looking a little more comfortable.

“Maybe… You’d have to check with Irons and the others, Joker and me aren’t really _friends_. And thank you, for your jacket, but as I said, unnecessary.”

“It’s ok, you didn’t need to give it back though” he smiled.

“I did not need it, as I said” She glanced over to him, he looked lost in thought.

“Fine. What were you doing here just now? I take it this is what you were doing before you came on the range” Mitchell thought out loud then covered his mouth quickly “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to...”

“It’s ok” she looked back down at the floor and start pulling at the grass, “I don’t really _sleep_. So usually I come down here. And no, I was… somewhere else”.

“I’ve never seen you down here, I usually get up at 6 and the lights never on” He said.

“I know, it takes you about 5 minutes to walk down here and I go then. I have the light on for most of the time but I find it a little easier to concentrate in the dark after being in the light for a while. I just didn’t feel like turning it off tonight” she looked over at him to see him gazing intently at her.

“Wow, how do you know so much about me?”

“I know a lot about everyone here”.

“Why don’t you wear shoes?” He asked suddenly.

Blacklight instantly covered her feet “Well I don’t like my feet being in shoes.”

Mitchell frowned at her.

“My toes are slightly plaited; they overlap a bit. So it’s uncomfortable in boots, and when I climb it means I can use my toes to grip” she had never liked people looking at her feet. But all he did was smile and nod.

“Do you want to do a few more laps then head in for breakfast? We’ve been talking for ages”.

“Sure thing, try and keep up” he teased.


	5. Brain? What brain...

Together they ran around the circuit a couple of times at a steady pace, before Blacklight decided to pick up the pace and sprinted on ahead; leaving Mitchell trying to catch up. She completed the lap and caught up with Mitchell who was breathing heavily; he slowed down and stood trying to catch his breath.

“You ok?”

“Yeah… I didn’t know… that you could run… so fast” he panted.

“Ha! That wasn’t even fast. If I’m well-nourished then my stamina is nearly unlimited, the same with healing.”

She walked with him to his room; her own was just down the corridor. After saying goodbye to Mitchell she headed off to get breakfast next, meeting Gideon and Ilona in the canteen. “What’s that?” she asked, sitting down.

“I was asking Ilona if she had seen Mitchell this morning, when I woke up and went to get him, he was already gone” Gideon said.

Blacklight took a bite of the apple and said “he was on the track with me”.

“With you? I thought he was scared of you” Ilona laughed, but looked a little shifty.

“He was, but we had a chat and I don’t think he’s too bad”.

“Ooohhhh… does someone have a little crush?” Ilona started fluttering her eyelashes.

“I _really_ don’t think so, anyway what are you looking so nervous for?” she gave her a small nudge.

Ilona sighed “you can read me like a book, can’t you?”

“Well you know, enhanced brain power etcetera, even though I don’t really have a brain… Never really thought about it like that"

"If you don't have a brain how can you think?" Gideon smiled.

"I... Uh, you tell me _your_ the special one with a brain".

"How can I know? I don't even know how you exist, but here you are".

"I'm great, that how" she laughed before turning back to Ilona. "So when were you planning on telling me this?”

Ilona looked up and closed her mouth. Mitchell walked by and sat next to Gideon. “Can you not manage to dry your hair now?” Ilona said leaning over the table and ruffling his hair, sending drops all over them. Blacklight raised an eyebrow at them.

“I was hungry” he laughed.

Ilona just rolled her eyes and mouthed _Men_ to Blacklight, making her laugh.

_She has such a nice smile and laugh. I wish she was like this all the time; she isn’t even scary, she’s probably lonely if anything… why can’t any of the other people here see that?_

But it was soon cut short when Irons came up to them.

“How are you all this morning?” he said to the four of them.

All of them but Blacklight answered him; she just rolled her eyes and looked away.

“Something wrong _Blacklight_?” he directed it to her.

Blacklight stood up and looked down at him before heading out.

Irons walked out a few minutes later too. Mitchell saw the hateful look Blacklight had given him “what’s with her and Irons?”

“Well, we don’t really know, one day everything was fine and the next, well they were like how they were then; except with more shouting and swearing” Gideon told him not going in to detail.

“Oh ok then, what are we doing today then?”

“I’ve been told to try and get you newbs to do some parkour after lunch” Gideon said grimacing.

“Why?” Mitchell started laughing at his expression.

“Fuck knows”.


	6. light entertainment

As she walked in to the gym the soldiers already in there quickly left, soon she was alone. _What’s the use in me being here anymore, they did say I could make the call whenever… no, not yet; I may as well just do the whole process again as no ones here._ Sitting in the centre of the room Blacklight started focusing her mind on trying to break past the haze. She stayed there in silence for hours; but no matter how hard she tried to get past, the fog in her mind was far stronger.

“How do I remember? I know there’s something in there… I’ve spent 39 years here and it doesn’t feel right. Who was I?” She quietly flopped down on the floor in defeat.

She left the gym after resting for a few minutes, _I wonder where Gideon is, he might have something for me to do…_ she texted him.

_Hey, is there anything you need me to do? I got bored. B_

_Yeah, I’m in building 6. Could use some help, trying to teach all Mitchells lot why they need to learn some parkour. Gid x_

_K, be there soon. B_

She headed over to building six and walked up to Gideon. He was trying to explain why learning to freerun was necessary, but he was making a mess of it. All the recruits except Mitchell looked anxious at her arrival, like she might shout at them any second.

“Need a hand?” she whispered to him. He nodded and motioned for her to talk.

She scanned through the recruits thinking about what she would say. “Ok, just forget all the shit Gideon told you. Now just think, when you’re in a warzone, you have your Exosuits, right” she started, and was met by them nodding.

“What if something happens to it and you’re stuck somewhere?” From in the crowd she heard someone say “you’re fucked”.

“Well _I_ wouldn’t be, but you would, but if you learn the basics, then you’ll have a better chance at getting out of that situation, or managing to complete the mission. Just by learning how to climb a wall you’ve got a better chance.” She told all of them, “Also its pretty fun to do when you’re bored shitless or trying to impress someone”.

“Thank you Blacklight, now will you all at least give it a try?” Gideon took over. Most of them nodded, and the rest did a moment later.

“Ok then let’s get going.” He smiled a fraction “You too Blacklight”.

She smiled slightly; _maybe if the recruits work with me now, they won’t hate me as much._

Mitchell watched her demonstrate, first learning to fall properly and balancing, then moving on to climbing.

“Blacklight, up the wall, go” Gideon ordered.

Looking unimpressed with the order she shook her head and literally walked up the side of the wall, some little tendrils on her feet clung to the surface as she turned around and smiled at Gideon, who frowned in return.

“Seriously?” he asked as she jumped down.

She nodded still smiling smugly. When his expression didn’t change she climbed the wall properly.

Mitchell smirked at her, _how hard can it be?_

Together she and Gideon watched the recruits slowly improve. Once they had moved on to slightly more advanced moves a few minor falls happened. Blacklight didn’t think anything of it until she heard him blame it on the recruit who was following him.

“I would have made that if you hadn’t made me lose my footing” He said pulling him down.

“What the fuck, I wasn’t anywhere near you” he got up and dusted himself off.

Blacklight watched intently, wondering if they would get in to a fight over it. More of the recruits turned and faced them as they started shouting.

“What’s going on” Gideon came up to her looking concerned.

“Ughh just some stupid row, _it’s your fault, no it’s yours, no yours_ , you get the idea” she told him.

“Well take one out one way and I’ll take one the other, we don’t need this kind of infighting” He said walking up to them. Rolling her eyes Blacklight followed him and after a few clumsy punches were thrown; Gideon split them up and pulled one towards the back of the building. Blacklight grasped the other by the back of his shirt and dragged him outside.

“Those were some shitty punches” She said to him. Not getting a reply, she took him outside. “This will be reported to Irons and he may want to see you. Next time just admit your mistake, it makes you look like a right dick if you don’t, and then start a fight over it” She left him there.

Gideon found Mitchell after their training was over “Do you want to come out for a drink with me and a couple of others?”

“Uhh yeah sure, what time?” Mitchell hadn’t been out since joining ATLAS.

“Around 9, I’ll come and get you anyway” Gideon told him before heading off to get a shower.


	7. Don't hate, Motivate!

Blacklight watched them head off to the pub from her room. Gideon had invited her, but she turned it down as she always did. Instead she practiced transforming her body in to various new weapons.

She looked in her mirror, at the armour; it was large amount of biomass that encased her. Not being able to ever test it on anyone she hadn’t found out whether it had any major benefits.

Her favourite weapon was her claws. She could make both of her arms biomass shift into talon-like limbs that she used to shred flesh and bone, allowing he to dismember enemies with ease.

Irons didn’t like people knowing that there was something so powerful living there; so she had never used them outside of ATLAS. Though all the soldiers had to be made aware of what she was, only a few had seen some of the things she was capable of.

 _At least I’ll never have to bother buying clothes again_ ; Blacklight smiled in the mirror then lay down and had a light sleep.

The virus had replicated her cells including the clothes she was wearing, making all of it biomass; this meant all she had to do was think of what she wanted to wear and the virus would change to it. Originally it was intended to be a disguise method, but she found an even better one shortly after, one that no one knew about.

It must have been about 2 am when she heard the others come back from the pub, and she looked out of her window, and smiled at the state they were in. “They’re gonna feel that tomorrow” She said under her breath smiling, but wished that she could have gone with them.

* * * 

Blacklight didn’t leave her room until late the next day. _Yet another day of doing nothing… yay…_ she changed her clothes to some combat trousers and sports bra, she picked up her headphones and headed down to the track. She saw a few others running, and playing football. She started listening to music, and did a couple of laps around the track; well aware that the others on the track were trying to avoid being too close to her.

She noticed Irons with a few others standing close to the track, obviously waiting for her, but she chose to ignore him and carried on running. It was only when Irons stepped out in to the track in front of her, she stopped. “What.”

“I was wondering if you could help with the recruit’s endurance running” As Irons spoke Blacklight saw Gideon leading yesterday’s group down to them.

“Is that really fair? You know that they’re scared of me” She said emptily.

Irons smiled “Exactly, Gideon will set a pace, you run with him, and if any fall behind you can… _motivate_ them”.

“You mean scare the shit out of them so they run away?” She looked away sighing.

“Exactly, but once they start falling over fainting maybe you should give them a break”.

“What if I hurt someone?” she said.

“There will be some people on standby if anything happens” Irons turned and left.

_Well it’s better than just sitting in my room I guess…_

“You ready to run?” Gideon asked her.

“Yeah, do they know that I’m their _motivator_ today?”

Gideon laughed “Oh yeah, we’re going to keep them going till they either pass out, can’t walk, or throw up; you’re going to be busy with this lot”.

Soon enough they started the circuit at a steady pace, within the first three laps one of them was already slowing. “Looks like you’re up” Gideon nudged her after looking behind.

Blacklight turned around; it was the guy from yesterday. She sighed and ran at the pitiful pace he was, before gripping his arm and sprinted to the others, pulling him along behind her. They caught up to the others but she held on to him, “You can keep up easily, next time I won’t be so nice” she shouted at him and released his arm. She saw the dents of her nails in his skin but she just ran ahead.

They carried on for a few more laps and Blacklight was bored of going at such a slow pace. She picked up her speed; realising what she was going to do Gideon called after her “Do it in blue!”

Blacklight laughed and ran faster. As she came to lap them she unleashed tendrils of biomass that swathed around her body, they glowed blue and looked like thick veins. Yet another recruit started to falter, she ran up behind him and tackled him to the ground and pinned him there.

The guards sprinted over and pinned her to the floor, cuffing her hands and her neck. Blacklight could have pushed them off her easily, but that wouldn’t help the situation.

Gideon looked over and told the recruits to keep running, and he headed over to Blacklight. “What the fuck are you doing?” he said through gritted teeth.

“She would have hurt him” they responded plainly.

“She was doing as ordered now take those off her and fuck off back to Irons”

They looked at him for a second longer before taking the cuffs off her and leaving the track.

She looked up at Gideon “that was fun” she laughed.

“You ok?” He smirked.

“Of course, I think some of them may be reaching their limit though” they did a few more laps, but they included a lot more shouting.

After one more she turned to see one of them fall on the ground. “Carry on, I’ll deal with it. If anymore go then we may need to stop” Blacklight returned to her regular form then ran up to him.

“Hey, you ok mate?” She asked sitting him up. He just gasped for air leaning on her. “I’ll take that as a no then… Right let’s get you some water and out of everyone’s way” She picked him up and walked to all of their stuff, finding some water pretty quickly she handed it to him. He took a large mouthful and nearly choked on it. Blacklight watched the others do one more lap and saw a lot more of them stop.

“You ok now?” She asked him, and he nodded. She ran through the remaining recruits; she leapt at Gideon, tackling him to the floor “You look as bad as this lot” she laughed sitting on him. The recruits stopped running and started to laugh at her and Gideon.

“Thanks, I was still going though” He smiled holding her gaze for a moment too long before he swatted her aside.

“I think we need to stop now” She pointed at all of the men scattered around the track.

“Ah, ok then. Go and take them some water, I’ll just sort this lot out” Gideon told her.

After making sure everyone was ok Blacklight went back to Gideon “When they’re ready can you get all of them out of here, I want to have some time alone”

“Yeah sure, I’ll get rid of them now” He smiled at her.

“Thanks, you’d better get a shower then old man” She started walking away. He just smiled after her.

She went and sat in the centre of the field putting her headphones back on. As the other recruits left Mitchell stayed and watched her as he drank his water “hey Gideon” He wheezed.

“What?”

“Why does she just sit there? She was there when I saw her before” Mitchell started to get up, though his legs felt dead.

“She tries to remember” Gideon said softly.

“Oh” Mitchell gazed at her.

“Just go and talk her. She isn’t a bad person” Gideon shoved him towards her.


	8. Will?

On his approach Blacklight took off her headphones and shuffled around to face him “What’s up?”

Mitchell sat next to her “What do you do when you sit here”.

Blacklight’s eyes looked distant “I said before, want to know who I was”.

Mitchell looked at her confused “I don’t get it, if you don’t remember, then how do you know that you’ve forgotten something?”

“I said before, do you have a short memory span or something?” she growled.

“Yeah, sorry, that runs really taken it out of me. Is this why you don’t sleep?” Mitchell felt like he was being nosey but couldn’t help asking.

Blacklight looked away from him “Promise me you won’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t tell anyone, I promise as your friend” He held out his hand, she shook it. “Hm, friends… there aren’t many that call me that” She laughed.

“What do you mean? I think you’re a pretty nice person now I’ve actually talked to you” He frowned at her.

“Well people don’t want to talk to me; they all think I’m going to hurt them or something… I only have 3 friends now, Gideon, Ilona, and now you. I was good friends with Will though… he wasn’t like the others. But Irons didn’t like the thought of something like me being with his son...” She trailed off.

“You knew Will?” Mitchell was thrown back in to memories of his best friend.

She nodded looking at something behind him “obviously”.

Mitchell turned around, realising that the cemetery was on the other side of the buildings.

“Where were you before you came on to the range?” He asked putting the two together.

She smiled “You’re a sharp one aren’t you? Yeah, I was sitting with him”.

“I didn’t see you at his funeral” he mentioned.

She shook her head “Irons didn’t want something like me there”

“I’m sorry Blacklight, I didn’t know…” Mitchell felt guilty seeing her look so upset.

“Don’t worry I wouldn’t expect you to have known. He couldn’t tell anyone about me, I don’t exist outside of ATLAS. He talked about you a lot, that’s how I knew who you were” She smiled.

“Were you two together?”

“No… we were, just good mates”.

“Oh, I see…” Mitchell muttered.

After a short pause she changed the subject and felt more comfortable “how was last night?”

“It was good, I haven’t been out for ages” He smiled “Gideon said that you couldn’t come”.

“I haven’t been out for years. I don’t mind too much, but it would be nice to get away from everyone” She lay down on the grass and stared at the sky.

“Why didn’t you come then, it was only me, Gideon, Joker and Ilona.” Mitchell felt confused.

“Like I said I don’t exist outside of ATLAS, I’m not allowed to leave unless I’m on a mission” She wasn’t too happy telling him all of this, but it felt good having someone to talk to.

“You could try and sneak out, I’m sure there’s some stuff you could do that you haven’t told anyone. I thought my prosthetic was pretty neat, but you’re incredible…” he blurted out before he could stop himself.

She frowned at the sky for a little longer before answering “There are lots of things I can do that would freak the shit out of everyone…”

“Try me” Mitchell said eager to know.

She gave him a small smile and thought; _he’s got some balls taking to me like this… I shouldn’t, but I like him._ “Fine… just don’t worry too much, it won’t hurt you”. She reached out her hand and touched his cheek.

Mitchell watched as she was slowly covered in black and red tendrils, as they went back into her skin she moved her hand away and faced him.

“I’ve only done this a few times before, first transformation is always the slowest” She said in his voice.

“Wow… how?” Mitchell gasped, looking at an exact copy of him.

“When I come into contact with other people’s skin, I take a small sample of their DNA which I can store. I can use this at any time and basically become them, I’ve never showed anyone before though… don’t tell anyone, please?” She converted back to her usual form.

“Yeah I won’t, that’s amazing…” he said not taking his eyes off hers.

“Thanks, I don’t usually get reactions like that. Most of the time they just see me as, well a killer” She glanced over to him.

“I’ve never seen anything like that; can you make yourself look like Gideon?” He laughed a little.

“Sure, I can be a few people from here” She said and quickly changed in to Gideon, “Like what you see?” She raised an eyebrow made a pouty face to him.

Mitchell burst out laughing “Whenever I see him all I’m going to see is that!”

Blacklight started laughing too, and her Gideon form faulted, and turned her in to a different person. Mitchell finished laughing “Who are you now?”

“What?” She looked at him in confusion, then took out her phone and stared at her reflection. She saw a fairly young man with a skull balaclava and sunglasses. “I don’t understand; I’ve never seen anyone like this… how could I have become him?” She muttered disorderly and took a photo of him.

“Maybe it’s someone that you’ve met a long time ago” Mitchell suggested.

“Maybe…” She changed back to her usual self. Not wanting to think about it she sat up to face Mitchell “Can I show you something?”

“Ok then, but it’ll be getting dark soon…” He started.

“Good, just follow me” She pulled Mitchell up and headed towards one of the larger buildings. She sprinted up the side effortlessly, but Mitchell couldn’t get a good foot hold.

Blacklight had reached the roof quickly and looked down to see Mitchell still on the floor. _Shit, forgot that only I can get up here, better give him a hand…_ she transformed her one arm in what looked like a grapple, and quickly extended it down, grabbed his shoulder and pulled him up.

“Thanks, what was that?” Mitchell said moving away from the edge.

“It’s like a grapple; I use it for when I have to get on helicopters and stuff. Sometimes I can’t get enough power to jump that high, so I can just reach and get hold of it like this” She walked towards the other side of the roof and sat with her legs hanging over the edge, and her arms resting on one of the rails.

Mitchell followed and stood just behind her “What am I looking at?”

“When it gets darker you’ll see” She said looking out in to the distance.

Mitchell sat with her now and watched. They waited and slowly the night set in and the cities lights were coming on behind them. “Oh wow, that looks beautiful…” He gazed out further in to the distance.

Blacklight smiled at him but turned him to face the other way and tilted his head up to the sky. “This is what I wanted to show you” She chuckled.

Mitchell looked up to see the star lit sky “Ok, that’s defiantly better” he smiled.

“Yeah, but the city’s kinda pretty too” She nudged him.

“Na this is better” he continued looking at the stars. Blacklight pointed out some of constellations to Mitchell, but her mind drifted back to the man she turned in to earlier. _Maybe it’s someone I used to know, from before ATLAS…_

Mitchell interrupted her thoughts with a gentle snoring. Rolling her eyes she picked him up and shifted back down to the floor. She put him in his room and left him to sleep.

“Wait, don’t go” Mitchell called after her softly.

“You need to sleep” Blacklight looked down at him.

“I don’t want to sleep.” He said stubbornly.

“What do you want then? You look tired to me” she looked at him confused.

“I want you…” He mumbled as he gazed in to her green eyes.

She didn’t respond to the emotion in his voice “What you want isn’t what you need”.

Mitchell pulled her towards him and kissed her roughly; breaking away he said “I’ll go to sleep if you stay with me…”

Blacklight held his gaze a moment longer before moving his hands and walked back to her own room.


	9. Jealousy?

“Did she tell you?” Ilona asked as he sat with them for breakfast.

“Tell me what?” Mitchell looked at her sleepily.

“Gideon says that you asked her about her memories” Ilona gave his shoulder a small shake to wake him up.

“Oh right, yeah we talked about a lot of stuff then we went stargazing for a bit, I guess I fell asleep” Mitchell smiled to himself.

“Stargazing? You want to be careful with her, the only other person she took up there was Will, and that didn’t end well” Ilona looked concerned.

“But she said that they weren’t together?”

“Will wanted them to be, but Blacklight didn’t; she didn’t want to see him die, as she can’t. Irons was never happy about it, I think that had something to do with them hating each other. You wouldn’t believe how much she changed because of him though” Gideon said as he sat down with them.

“Yeah, he was the first of us to actually talk to her, we saw that she was pretty nice and we just started chatting to her and we just became friends. It was also him that tried to get her to remember I think, right?” Ilona asked Gideon.

“Right. But when he died… all she did was try to recollect, anything to take her mind off it; she stopped coming on missions because of it” Gideon shook his head. “How did you get on this topic anyway?”

“They did some stargazing last night” Ilona filled him in. Gideon looked at him and raised an eyebrow, his eyes glinting with emotion.

Mitchell thought about the face Blacklight did in Gideon’s form, and nearly started laughing. “Why was that so bad? It wasn’t a date or anything”.

Both Ilona and Gideon looked at each other and then back him and looked as if they were both thinking _really?_

“Mitchell mate, it’s fairly obvious that you like her…” Gideon sighed looking to Ilona, who had her eyes shut but nodded in return.

“She’s a really nice person, virus though…” he started, and then stopped remembering what he had done last night.

“I know she is, but I doubt she sees you in that way…” Ilona told him.

“I know, and I think I may have done something really stupid…” Mitchell muttered to them “Do you know where she is?”

“Try her room” Ilona told him.

As Mitchell walked off Gideon sighed and turned to her “Something defiantly happened”.

Ilona looked back at him “you ok?”

“Not really… I’ve liked her for years, then he turns up and they’re off stargazing.”

“I know how you feel. But she doesn’t like him, I do know that” Ilona exhaled.

Gideon looked at her realising that she had feelings for Mitchell.


	10. The forgotten team

Mitchell waited outside Blacklight’s room, pacing; trying to decide what to say to her.

“Most people knock” She snapped opening the door.

“How did you know I was there?” Mitchell stepped in.

“I just know when people are near; it’s easier if they’re still though. What’s wrong now?”

“I’m really sorry about last night, I don’t know why I did that” Mitchell looked flustered, not meeting her eyes.

“Just forget it.” She said more calmly.

Mitchell sat down, looking as nervous of her as when they had first met. “But what if I don’t want to forget…” he mumbled.

“Why apologise for something you wanted to happen then?” Blacklight sat next to him frowning.

“Because I know that you don’t like me in that way…”

“I do like you, but I don’t feel a romantic attraction to you” She looked away from him as well “You’d better go and see if Gideon needs you, I‘m going for some food”.

 

_Maybe I could ask Irons about the skull man_. After finishing her food she headed to one of the offices, knowing that he was around there.

“Blacklight, what brings you here?” Irons called her over as she walked through the glass doors.

“I want talk to you, in private.”

“Sure” Irons walked with her to his office and sat down at his desk, motioning for her to sit as well. “What’s wrong now then?” he mimicked the same tone she had taken with Mitchell earlier.

“What makes you think something wrong” Blacklight was already regretting her decision to talk to him.

“Well the last time you wanted to talk to me it was about Will’s funeral, and we know how that ended” Irons said blankly.

“You should have let me go; it’s what he would have wanted… Anyway, this is what I wanted to talk about” She showed him the photo of the man in the scull mask.

Irons frowned at it “Do you have any idea who this is?” he said concerned.

Blacklight shook her head “No, am I meant to?”

“I think the question is more how did you get this?” Irons suspiciously raised an eyebrow at her.

Blacklight thought fast to try and make a plausible reason “I was looking at some old photos on the data base and I found this one, I was just curious as to who it was”.

Irons obviously wasn’t happy with this excuse and put on the screen a video of her and Mitchell from the previous night. It showed her changing into Gideon and then to the other man. “That’s a pretty impressive talent you have there, now are you sure that you’ve never met this man before?”

Blacklight looked down “I don’t remember him, but I feel like I should know… I think he’s someone from before ATLAS, but…” She paused seeing Irons call someone “What was that?”

“You’ll see, just come with me” Irons walked out, not waiting to see her reaction. He headed outside and met a small group of people in hazmat suits. Blacklight followed but was feeling worried thinking _What if I do know him and Irons knows him too? What’s with all these guys here?_

“What’s going on?” Blacklight looked at all of them.

“We just want to try something we’ve been developing and I think that now is a good time for it” Irons smiled at her.

One of the men showed her a fairly small canister. “What’s _Bloodtox_?” She asked reading the label.

“That’s what we’re going to find out, it’s still a prototype. The gas won’t react to any of us, but it may for you, we don’t really know what it does you see” Irons said as the men opened the canister.

_Why does that sound so familiar? Still a prototype…_ Blacklight froze. _We need some of your DNA…_ she heard in her mind, _with any luck it should accept you…_ she couldn’t think of anything but the words she had heard 39 years ago. _That’s new, are they talking about the virus? Why now, has he said that to me before? The voice is so distorted… Who is it?_

They opened the Bloodtox and the gas seeped out, then it was dispersed fully. Blacklight started to cough and blood started to drip out of her nose.

“What the fuck is this?!” She fell to her knees cupping her face. Irons just watched with a smirk.

Healed cuts started to reopen along her body, and the fog in her mind started to falter. Blacklight stared at the small group, and old memories started to come back. _Ghost, Price, Soap, Roach, Gaz, Nikolai, Zakhaev… Alexis, I know these people. I can remember!_ But then she saw herself being injected and turning in to the virus. _Irons… he did this to me?_ She looked up at him, seeing his face she remembered it was the same look he gave her when she had woken up.

After struggling to get up for a minute, she sprinted over to one of the warehouses, clutching at all the bleeding in an effort to stop it. She saw him and ran over, “Gideon!” she spluttered with blood dribbling down her face.

Before she could reach him, her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground, not being able to move she lay on her side; old cuts started to appear including her burn. _What the fuck is happening to me?_ “Gideon…” She called once more, followed but a set of coughs that shook her body.

“Fuck! Blacklight, what the hell happened?!” Gideon knelt next to her, and held up her head, her burned side was facing him, obscuring it from the other soldiers.

“I… Irons…” She was shaken by another cough, and as the virus rapidly tried to repair itself.

“Irons what? Blacklight!”

 She looked at Gideon and locked eyes with him before she went limp and her head fell back on his arm, breathing shallowly.

“No… Fuck me girl, you can’t die” Gideon brushed her bloody white hair out of her face.

Some of the soldiers came over to see what had happened, and were shocked to see Blacklight. Her body and face covered in cuts, and so blood soaked it was creating a small puddle on the floor. Mitchell watched from the back and he felt like he was going to faint. Irons and a few others walked in and pushed through the crowd.

Her body shuddered a little and she coughed, gasping for air. Gideon sat her up properly and she lent on his shoulder. Slowly the cuts faded and the virus restored itself back to normal.

“Fuck me… what happened?” Gideon asked her as she healed.

She saw Irons standing near “It was just a test… Bloodtox, they didn’t know what it would do; it wouldn’t react to people, but…” She stopped and started coughing again.

“It reacted to you. Irons allowed this?” Gideon couldn’t believe it.

“Yes I did, we didn’t know that something like this would happen” Irons told him.

“How could you not know what it would do? She was dead!” Gideon looked up to him.

“It doesn’t matter Gideon, you know I can’t die… it was just an accident” She looked around the small crowd and caught Mitchell’s eye. She gave him a small smile, and he came over.

“Is it ok if I go, I just want some time alone” She asked Gideon, who nodded.

“Do you need a hand?” Mitchell asked her. She nodded and he took her hand and helped her up. She lent on him as they walked.

“Blacklight I want you in my office tomorrow” Irons said frowning at her.

“Sure” She didn’t bother looking at him but stayed leaning on Mitchell.


	11. Paintball

“My rooms closer, if you want to go there” Mitchell said as they walked down the corridor.

“Mines only a little further you know” she laughed a little.

“Yeah but I’ve got beer, and I’m guessing that you need one” he stopped opening the door.

“Yeah sure” She walked in and sat on the edge of his bed, then flopped back.

“What really happened then” He said sitting next to her.

“What do you mean” She took the beer he was holding out to her.

“You were in agony Blacklight… that wasn’t just a test, was it” He looked over to her, and saw her face fall.

“He knows Mitchell”

“What does he know?” He lent on his side to face her.

“That I changed in to that man and that I had started to remember” She turned to face him as well.

“You can remember? Who were you?”

“I really don’t want to talk about this Mitchell; I think I’ll just go to bed” She started to get up but Mitchell held on to her hand.

“We don’t have to talk about that, please stay”

Blacklight paused, and then sat down again “Fine”.

“Can I ask you something? I wondered this since I first saw you” He asked.

“What is it?” She muttered.

“Do you dye your hair white?”

She looked at him and raised an eyebrow, before a small smile appeared on her face “No I don’t dye my hair, if I bleached it to this colour all the time I wouldn’t have any left. I used to from when I was about 15 till 23 then some stuff happened and I got lost for a while… The virus turned it white; I don’t know why, it just did”.

“Well it still looks good on you” He smiled brushing a few strands behind her ear.

Blacklight smiled “damned straight it does”.

He laughed “You sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah I’m good; anyway they won’t be able to use that on me again”

Mitchell looked at her blankly.

“It’s like when you get a cold, you create antibodies against it so you can’t get it again, and that’s what the virus does” She explained, and he nodded slowly after a while.

“Ok, I think I get it. If you’re all ok now, would you like to come out with me?” Mitchell went red again as he asked her.

“I _can’t_ leave, you know that” She looked back to him.

“Just become someone else, I’ll know it’s you, no one else has to”

“There are only two women I can change in to, and one of them is Ilona.” She could see where this was going and she wasn’t too happy with it.

“Who’s the other then” Mitchell couldn’t see the problem with this.

Blacklight looked away and shook her head _I really want to go, but Irons will know it’s me, what are the chances of him seeing me though… just do it or you’ll be stuck here for another 40 years._ “When do you want to go then” She said after a while.

Mitchells face lit up “how about 8?”

Blacklight smiled back “That sounds fine with me”

“Want to watch a film until then?” he suggested.

Blacklight thought for a moment “you want to do some paintballing instead?”

“There are paintball guns here?” Mitchell looked happy with this idea.

Blacklight nodded and got up “Come on, we’ve got loads of time!”

Mitchell got up and followed her to one of the older buildings, where she opened up a locker and handed him two guns. She went in the locker next to it and brought out a couple of bags of paintballs.

Mitchell took two of the bags then handed Blacklight the other gun. She loaded hers and put the bag on her belt as a makeshift ammo pouch. “You ready?” She smiled.

“Hell yeah!” Mitchell put the other balls in his pockets.

“Ok how shall we do this? Do you want a one on one, or to pick some targets?” She said as they walked back in to the open.

“By targets do you mean people?” Mitchell asked, not too sure if he wanted to play against her.

“Always, let’s see who we can find first” they headed to one of the training buildings and found Gideon with some of the recruits.

She pointed to him and signalled for Mitchell to stay quiet, and they moved closer staying out of sight. “You stay on the ground, I’m going for the beams” She told him before swiftly emerging on one of the beams above him.

She aimed and fired, hitting Gideon directly in the back, and green paint splattered all over him. She heard him saying _what the fuck_ before Mitchell shot and hit him in the leg.

Trying not to laugh Blacklight jumped to a different beam and shot him again this time hitting him in the shoulder.

Gideon soon realised what was going on “Blacklight…” he growled, as a paintball flew past him and hit her in the arm. _Oh shit…_ Mitchell thought.

Blacklight aimed and shot several times, each hitting Mitchell. She laughed and jumped down from the beam. “You’re a good sport Gideon, don’t worry it should wash out” she said walking past him to Mitchell, who had started walking towards her.

“Thanks for hitting me” she said shooting him in the stomach.

Mitchell shot back, hitting her hip “Thanks for _repeatedly_ hitting me”.

“Your welcome, let’s go and find someone else” She pulled him out of the building.

Gideon just stood there, covered in paint, _and you believed her when she said she wouldn’t use you as a target any more._

Together they got Ilona, and then they just ended up shooting each other before running out of paintballs. They put the guns back in the locker and headed back to their rooms, paint running down them.

“I think that’s the most fun I’ve had in ages, thank you Jack” She nudged him with her shoulder.

Mitchell gave her a shy smile _I don’t like people calling me by my first name, yet when she does it feels right… ugh stop thinking like this, she doesn’t like you._ He poked her back “I’m gonna go for a shower, I’ll come and get you tonight, ok?”

She nodded “Sure, do I need to wear anything in particular?”

“Na just wear what you want, I don’t mind” Mitchell then went to the showers.

Blacklight went and had a shower as well; seeing all the paint in her hair reminded her of all the colours Alexis used to dye it. After drying herself and changing to some shorts and a tank top she headed back to her room and read for a bit.


	12. Lightweight

It was 19:30 when Mitchell went to get Blacklight _I hope this works_ he thought knocking on her door. She opened it and stepped out, and followed him to the Jeep. “Ok so how is this going to work, there are cameras everywhere here”.

“It’s ok, I’ve got this, just go along with it” She told him and made it look like she was walking away, before disappearing and materialising in the back of the Jeep. Mitchell got in and headed off, after they were outside of ATLAS she appeared next to him, but there was something different.

When Mitchell got out of the Jeep he properly looked at Blacklight. He saw that her hair was a different colour, Brown roots, with blonde, red and blue ends “You look different” He said, looking her up and down, she was wearing a short black dress and matching heels.

“I know, this is the only other person I could be” She to face him and he saw that her face wasn’t as thin, but it was covered with small scratches and scars. Her eyes were still green, but they weren’t as bright. She didn’t seem quite as muscular as she was, but still lean and toned. Finally he saw the same burn running all down her left arm finishing close to her knee.

“But you still look like, _you_?”

“This is the old me. Tonight you’ll have to call me Alexis or Alex, ok?” She saw his expression change when he saw the burn.

“Ok then, why Alexis though?” He started walking towards the bar.

She smiled and laughed to herself “Because that was my name”.

“Oh, I thought it… why does no one call you that then?” Mitchell felt confused, but held the door for her and ordered their drinks.

“I thought it was as well, but like I said, I remember who this body belonged to” Blacklight said taking her beer and having a sip.

“Well, Alex, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Jack, you look great in that dress” he said smiling, _her name suits her, and she looks even prettier like this_.

Blacklight laughed and together they finished their drinks and Mitchell went to get some more. She saw him talking to someone at the bar, but she didn’t think anything of it.

“Hey Mitchell, we didn’t know that you were out tonight” It was Joker, with Ilona and Gideon nearby.

“Uhh yeah, I just wanted to go out for a bit” Mitchell murmured.

“Who are you here with?” Ilona asked. Mitchell looked at her blankly. “You just ordered two beers” She rolled her eyes at him.

“Oh yeah, just an old friend… I’d best be getting back, so I’ll see you later” he said walking back to their table.

Gideon watched him walking back to her “Who do you think she is?” he asked all of them.

“I don’t know but she’s pretty damn hot” Joker replied getting a quick look at her.

“She looks like she’s seen a few fights or something, look at her arm, I mean that’s not the kind of burn you get in an office or something” Ilona pointed out.

Gideon hadn’t properly seen her face he thought there was something familiar about her _that burn_ …

“At least he isn’t mooching around Blacklight anymore” she said.

“He had a thing for her? Why, she isn’t even a real person” Joker looked at her frowning.

“Maybe if you tried to talk to her you’d see a different side” Ilona pointed out but looked at Gideon.

“Should we go and say hello, its only polite right?” Joker said ignoring her comments, but Ilona shook her head.

“Let’s leave them alone, if they come over then you can say hi” She said having some of her own drink.

Mitchell and Blacklight talked for most of the evening, he tried to avoid asking her anything about her memory, but he couldn’t help himself. “Can you tell me anything about yourself, about Alexis?”

Blacklight put down her beer “I’m sorry, I don’t think I can.”

Mitchell smiled “its ok, I didn’t mean to be nosy”.

“Come on, time for another beer” She said pulling him up.

Ilona turned back to the others “if you want to talk to her here’s your chance”.

“Hey Mitchell, aren’t you going to introduce us?” Joker said to him but looked at her.

Blacklight looked past Joker to see Ilona and Gideon there as well, _shit! Please don’t recognise me, please…_

“Alexis this is Joker, Ilona and Gideon” Mitchell said warily, hoping that there wouldn’t be any questions.

After the amount they had already had to drink, none of them seemed to realise it was her and Blacklight felt more comfortable, they stayed at the bar with them for a while and finished their beers, then Gideon asked if they wanted to join them for some shots. Mitchell looked to her, and feeling pressures by all of their gazes she agreed.

The bartender lined up their shots whiskey, rum, vodka, tequila and a few more. They all had a race to see who could drink them the fastest, Blacklight won, easily downing the spirits. Gideon and Ilona came a joint second with Joker close behind; Mitchell took the longest, not being used to hard spirits like the rest of them were.

“Lightweight” Gideon laughed his voice slurring a bit.

Blacklight rolled her eyes “I guess I’m driving then…” she said to herself.

“So _Alex_ , how did you meet Mitchell? He said that you were old friends” Gideon asked her handing her another beer.

_He knows it’s me…_ Blacklight thought quickly “I just met him in a bar one night a few years ago, I didn’t think I’d see him again after I heard about Korea though”.

Gideon nodded but didn’t take his eyes off her “Maybe you’d like to come out with us again some time”.

Blacklight smiled understanding that he wasn’t going to mention it “maybe, you guys seem alright”.

Ilona asked her more “How did you get those burns?”

“Oh, a gas container exploded, and I was just too close… it burned all down my arm, side and leg. I can’t feel much there now.” Blacklight answered quietly.

“Were you in the Army or something?” She drank the last of her beer.

Blacklight spoke even quieter “Uh, yeah. British. I can’t talk about it”.

The night went on and Mitchell started talking with Ilona more, so Blacklight slipped to the side next to Gideon. “I know you know” she whispered in his ear.

“Is your name really Alexis” he murmured back.

“It was.”

“You look beautiful.” He said, catching Blacklight off guard.

“What?”

Gideon now looked flustered, like he hadn’t meant to say it out loud. “I said that you looked beautiful…”

“But this isn’t me, Alexis _was_ pretty. _I_ am not her though.”

“No, you know I meant you” he smiled at her and held her hands.

“Thanks, but I’m sorry Gideon, you know I can’t have relationships”.

“But what about Will? You were with him” he pleaded.

“And he’s dead. I don’t want attachments like that again.”

“Can’t we just try it though?”

She looked at the sadness in his eyes, and firmly said “No.” Gideon just stared at her with his mouth slightly open. Blacklight frowned “To put it another way, I don’t want to. I’m sorry; I know you’ve felt like this for a while, but I don’t”. She checked her phone 00:56 “Hey Mitchell, I need to go, do you want a lift back?”

Mitchell nodded starting to feel the effects of the booze; and they said bye to the others before leaving. Alcohol had next to no effect on the virus so Blacklight drove him back to ATLAS. They changed seats just before entering, Mitchell parked and headed over to his room; Blacklight materialised in the corridor to their rooms knowing that it wasn’t monitored there.

She changed back to her normal form and waited in Mitchell’s room, and a few minutes later he walked through the door and kicked off his shoes before curling up on his bed. “You ok there?” Blacklight asked, sitting next to him.

“Na, not really” Mitchell muttered with his face in his pillow.

Blacklight rubbed his back “is there anything you need?” she asked him softly.

“I need you to answer something for me” he rolled over to face her.

Blacklight nodded “Sure, what is it?”

“You know that I like you, probably a lot more than I should… but is there any chance that you like me, even in the slightest?”

Blacklight reached across and held his hand “You’ve already asked me this, and I’m sorry but it’s still no. I know who does like you though…”

 He sighed “Ok, wait what?”

She laughed “have you really not noticed?”

“Noticed what?” he smiled.

Blacklight rolled her eyes “well her name starts with an I and ends with lona”.

“Oh”.

“Don’t tell her I told you though. Night Mitchell” she grinned.

No dreams of Will came to her that night; instead it was just memories of old missions.

Storming the ship, being thrown out of the helicopter when the missile hit, seeing her brother shoot himself, her and Soap together for all those years. Then Kingfish, and seeing Soap with Lucy, growing closer to Ghost… the gas tank explosion and the burns, being in a coma. Lastly she remembered General Shepherd selling her to ATLAS; and the virus taking control.


	13. the originality is killing me...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has taken so long, I'm really busy with life stuff at the moment as I've finally started my Army application. I'm legit stressed over this as its been an ambition since I was about 12 and I really don't want to mess it up :)

Early the next morning Blacklight headed over to Irons office she hoped that it wouldn’t be anything too bad, _I’ll just pretend that the Bloodtox got rid of my old memories, this can’t be about anything else._ She walked into his office.

“What did you tell Gideon yesterday?” Irons asked instantly, looking pissed off.

Blacklight was unfazed by his bad mood “it was an accident, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, yes of course” Irons looked a little relieved. “Can you remember who this man is?” He showed her a picture of Ghost.

After studying it for a minute she shook her head “nah, nice mask though”.

“Very well” Irons sounded sceptical but didn’t press her. “I think you should meet someone”.

“Right... Like a recruit or something?” _this sounds too familiar…_

Irons sighed “in a way, you’ll understand why I asked you when you meet him, but don’t be too surprised”.

*

Blacklight still didn’t understand as she followed a scientist in to the lower levels of the labs. “Who is this guy then?” she asked as they kept walking.

“I’m not really sure, he won’t talk to me” she replied.

“Is he safe or is he a bit volatile?” Blacklight followed her down the steps.

The scientist laughed “we’ve been trying to get him _out_ of here for ages. He just won’t move, I think he’s scared of something”.

She stopped halfway down the corridor and opened the door, when she saw Blacklight frown she said “he can come and go from the lab as he likes, as I said, he won’t”.

Blacklight peered around the door to see a man facing away from them sitting in a corner. “Is it ok for me to…?”

“Of course, he may respond to you, if he doesn’t then you can go whenever as well” she walked back up the hall leaving Blacklight there.

_Why would he respond to me?_ She thought walking in to the cell. “Um, hi” she managed to say.

He twitched his head up a bit, but didn’t reply.

She tried to access his mind, but she couldn’t get in, _there’s something… different about him_. “Can you tell me your name?”

He stayed silent, _I can’t read her. Why can’t I?_

She sat against the wall a metre away from him, but he shuffled further in to the corner. “I’m not going to hurt you” she mumbled _I guess he’s heard the rumour as well._

Still nothing, _what’s so special about her? Why can’t I read her thoughts?_

“It’s my job to keep everyone safe”.

_Sure it is one person to look after all these people._

“Do you know where you are” she sounded exasperated looking over at him.

After a moment he shook his head, but he didn’t still speak.

Leaning in a bit more she told him “you’re at a place called ATLAS; it’s an independent military company. These are the labs they do lots of stuff here, but you don’t really want to know that. You do know you can leave, right?”

He nodded, _you can leave as well sweetheart, no different to those pissing doctors._

“Why don’t you want to?” Blacklights patience was wearing thin.

He just shook his head.

“Do you need some paper, a pen, or something?” she walked out of the room and back handing him a pen and paper.

He looked up at her and a small smile played on his lips before taking them, _she’s really hot, I should have looked up before…_

“You aren’t going to write anything are you?” she sighed. “ _Can’t do anything can you Blacklight_ ” she muttered to herself.

But he whipped back around and his eyes bore in to hers, they were abnormally blue, _did she say Blacklight?_

“ _Blacklight_? My names Blacklight, if that’s what you’re wondering” she repeated.

He tilted his head to one side showing an obvious interest, _she’s Blacklight? But it’s a virus… Oh, she’s what they meant._

“Can I?” she asked and at the same time reached out her hand and placed it on his neck. She frowned “you have no pulse”.

He shrugged “neither do you”.

Blacklight looked startled “how can you tell?” she responded eventually.

“All people have a pulse in their thumb, you don’t” he said plainly, _because you’re a virus._

“Oh, no one else has ever noticed before. Why don’t you have one then?”

“Why don’t you?” he retorted, though he knew exactly why.

“I’m a virus.”                                  

He smirked “that’s funny”.

“Why?”

“Because I am as well” he looked over and smiled.

“Oh… well that explains a lot”.

“How?”

“I tried to get in to your mind before, I couldn’t. Humans don’t have that kind of resistance” she laughed _is this seriously happening? Maybe I’m dreaming._

“Yeah they’re weak. I’ve heard a lot about you, _Blacklight_.” He laughed a little “how _original_ ”.

“I didn’t call myself that, Irons did. I used to be Alexis, well, you know what I mean”.

He couldn’t take his eyes off hers and kept smiling “that’s fitting, I’m Alex, well used to be”.

“It’s nice to meet you. Why haven’t you wanted to leave? You can do whatever you like and you choose to stay here?” she said.

“I’ve never been anywhere else as a virus; they made me like this here” He replied.

“But you have your memory, I can only just remember everything and that’s only because I was poisoned”.

“Oh, they told me who I was, and it’s kinda boring” he grumbled.

“But why won’t you leave?”

“And go where?”

“Anywhere, you can do anything you like”.

“I’m not safe, I don’t know how anything _works_ ” Alex retorted, _though I wouldn’t mind doing you._

Blacklight went quiet in thought, “I can teach you” she finally said. He looked at her sceptically. “I’ve been this for nearly 40 years, I know what I’m doing” she smiled.

“Mh, I guess so”.

“You have to come out of here though”.

“Fine” he said looking thoroughly pissed off.


	14. Peeling..?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again sorry for the delay, I have my PDA coming up in a few weeks so I'm just running and lifting at every opportunity, stress is killing me :3

They walked out of the labs and got a couple of looks from the soldiers, but nothing was said. Alex started to look uncomfortable with the stares he was getting.

“Why are they looking at us like that?” he whispered.

“Well they’ve never seen you before and I’m with you, and I always get looks like that, you get used to it after a while” she looked at him and saw him frown.

“Why put up with it?” he asked.

“I don’t really have a choice; I’ve had too many _warnings_ from Irons. Anyway do you want something to eat?” she closed the subject and pulled him towards the canteen.

“Can we eat? I didn’t think we had stomachs”.

“Eh, kind of. We can eat people food, but it doesn’t do too much. So any kind of raw food they have left over in the kitchen we can have that, if I was allowed to I’d just consume prisoners but I’m not, which means I have to settle for this. Wait, what have you been eating then?” she looked over.

“They just gave me nutrients as an injection” he answered.

“Sounds _lovely_ ” she smiled.

"So should we get some _food_ then? I’d say I'm hungry but I can’t actually tell" Alex grinned back.

"Sure, sorry. Stop distracting me with relevant questions" they started walking again and he walked closely next to her, but slyly glancing over. _You're staring at her. Why? Because were the only two of our kind? Yeah, but she is really hot._ He sighed, _you have your orders._

"You ok?" Blacklight asked.

"Yeah, it’s just strange that you actually exist. I thought I would be the only one, when they told me about Blacklight I didn’t think it would be you, like a person”.

“What did you think Blacklight was then?” She raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not really sure; they said it was a virus so I just thought it was like the lab name or something like that”.

“You sound disappointed that I’m not a company and have a human form” She frowned but her tone didn’t change.

Alex smiled at her “Na I’m just surprised, I thought I’d be the only one”.

“Hm try living like that for 40 years, you get used to being alone”.

Alex didn’t know what to say, he could hear the bitterness in her voice now and held her shoulder for a moment as a way of comfort. They got to the canteen and she held the door open for him. "Oh, thanks."

“It’s ok” she said following him in.

There weren’t too many people in the hall, but it went silent they walked in. “It’s just because your new, don’t worry about it” she led him forwards to her usual table.

“It's ok, I'll get used to it. I think.”

Blacklight got them some food and sat beside him. “Ok now try these first, they’re probably the nicest out of anything” she handed him a small pot with mango in it.

He ate a small piece and looked confused “I guess it’s nice, really squishy though”.

Ten minutes later Ilona, Mitchell and Gideon walked in. Blacklight looked up and gave them a smile before suddenly feeling worried, _what if they don’t like him, they like me right? A little too much maybe... Oh God don’t let them get jealous_.

“Are you alright?” Alex looked at her concerned.

She blankly nodded back muttering “yeah, yeah. Sure”.

He followed her gaze and saw them walking towards the table. _Who are they_?

“Hey, and um hey?" Gideon looked a little confused, but he still smiled at him. Blacklight smiled back not too sure what to say.

“Uh, introductions?” Ilona asked her getting straight to the point.

Alex looked shifty and nervous, and started to pick at the food Blacklight had given him. “This is Alex. Alex this Ilona, Mitchell and Gideon” she said gesturing to each of them.

“Nice to meet you, are you a new recruit?” Mitchell asked him.

But Alex just glanced over to Blacklight who said “He is. I guess…”

Gideon frowned “the next intake of recruits is in three weeks though”.

“Oh, are you working in the offices or labs then?” Ilona asked as well.

“In a way he is” she muttered not quite sure what to say.

All of them looked confused. “So, who are you training with then?” Mitchell asked after a few seconds in silence.

“I’m going to train him” Blacklight said.

“Irons has given you a training group? That’s good” Mitchell smiled.

“No, just him”.

“What’s so special about him then?” Gideon snapped, not enjoying the misperception.

“He’s like me” she mumbled.

“What?” Ilona lent closer.

“He is like me.”

“What do you mean, like you?” Mitchell looked at him and frowned.

“He’s a virus, the same as me” she said a bit louder.

They went silent. Alex hadn’t been paying any attention to them talking about him, and looked up from the fruit to see them staring “um, nice to meet you”.

Blacklight held his hand under the table, seeing how nervous he looked compared to before.

“So, uh, how did you become like that then?” Gideon asked him, Blacklight frowned at him “I didn’t mean it like that”.

Alex looked to Blacklight who smiled and nodded. “I don’t really know. Sorry, but how do you _eat_ this?” he asked holding an orange.

“You peel it”. They looked up to see Irons. “Nice to hear you finally talking Alex, I trust that Blacklight is looking after you”.

For once she smiled in return and nodded. “I thought that Blacklight couldn’t infect people” Gideon said to Irons, wiping the smile off her face.

“No that is true; we’ve been trying to create someone else since Blacklight came here. It rejected everyone else, but accepted Mr Mercer here” Irons clarified.

“Oh, was he an actual person before or do you mean _created_ created?” Gideon pried.

“He signed up for it. I just wanted to check everything was ok, I’ll have to let people know about you sometime soon Alex. I’m sure you can handle it but try not to lose your temper with them.”

“I’m fine, thanks. But how do you _peel?_ ” Alex mumbled.


	15. We can share...

Irons left shortly after as did the others, leaving Blacklight and Alex in the canteen. “What do you want to do first then?”

“I don’t mind, how much time do we have?” He said. “Do you not get on with Irons?”

“All the time in the world. You picked up on that, huh?”

He nodded “it just seemed a little tense”.

“Yeah we’ve never really seen eye to eye, but mainly it’s because of his son”.

“He has a son?”

“Will… me and him had, well, a _relationship_ which Irons didn’t approve of” she mumbled.

Alex nodded “I see…”

“Do you want to go running?” she stood abruptly and pulled him along with her, heading for the track. It was relatively quiet when they got there. She looked at him as they ran, and saw his blue eyes shining. “Do you think you’ll be able to keep up?” he asked.

“I don’t know, _maybe…_ ” she answered.

They didn’t count of how many times they ran around the track, only stopping when the sun started setting. “That was great! It's nice to have someone to run with”.

“Yeah, I’m not even tired”.

They took their time walking back to the barracks, talking and laughing.  As they walked Alex felt a strange compulsion to kiss her, but tamped it down. _She doesn't strike me as the spur-of-the-moment type, if she's even interested at all._

“So, what are we doing for the rest of the day, _Blacklight_?”

“Uh” she quickly checked her phone for any messages from Ilona or Gideon, but there weren’t any. “Seems like nothing. And don’t say it like that…”

“Like what?” he smiled.

“Like I’m something disgusting” she frowned at him, but he could hear the sadness in her voice

“Sorry, Blacklight” he sounded sincere.

She stayed quiet as they walked back to the rooms. Alex didn't blame her, _I didn’t mean to upset her, I was just trying to have a joke with her. Maybe she’s been called that before…_

He looked over at her “Blacklight?”

She glanced over, waiting for him to continue.

“I really am sorry”.

“It’s fine” she said.

“Sure? You’re really quiet”.

“I usually don’t have anyone to talk to at this time in the evening. Guess I’m used to it” she shrugged.

“The human Alex was pretty quiet too” he mentioned and she looked back at him.

“Really, maybe you haven't changed that much then”.

“Na, I hope I have changed in all honesty, I can’t remember everything, but I don’t think he was a good person”.

She nudged him with her elbow “Good thing that you aren’t him then, you’re a new person. Don’t fuck it up like I did”.

“I guess so.” There was a short pause, “What did you do then?”

“I killed someone; it’s one of the first things I could remember.”

He frowned “was that it?”

“You don’t get it… I couldn’t take the testing anymore, it was driving me insane. I got really angry, the virus weaponised itself, seeing them as a threat; I stabbed a scientist with my claws, and I opened them. I ripped him apart whilst he was still alive.”

Alex nodded but let her continue.

“As you can imagine everyone heard about it, and as time went on more rumours came up, and they got worse. No-one here really trusts me, and it was all from that. Don’t fuck it up like I did” she looked away from him as they walked through the corridor.

“I trust you” he said after a while.

She smiled at him “thanks; I’m guessing that you don’t have a room or anything”.

“Not that I’m aware of”.

“You can have my bed, I’ll sleep on the floor” she opened her door, and showed him in.

“You don’t have to do that, I don’t mind sharing if you don’t” he smiled and tilted his head to one side.

She changed in to a long t-shirt and shorts. “I’m fine with that. I’m trying to change my rest cycle so I’ll try not to wake you up” Blacklight curled up in the duvet and was soon asleep before Alex could say anything else.

_How did she do that_ he thought trying to do the same. But when nothing happened he lay next to her and went to sleep.


End file.
